The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Among University Students in Malaysia

April 28, 2026 updated by: Wei Jun Tan, Universiti Sains Malaysia

The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Among University Students in Malaysia.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can reduce dysfunctional attitudes and difficulties in emotion regulation among university students in Malaysia.The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in dysfunctional attitudes scores compared to those in the control group?
  • Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in difficulties in emotion regulation scores compared to those in the control group?
  • Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in dysfunctional attitudes scores from pre-test to intermediate-test and from pre-test to post-test?
  • Will participants who receive ACT show statistically significant reduction in difficulties in emotion regulation scores from pre-test to intermediate test and from pre-test to post-test?

Researchers will compare ACT group to a waitlist control group to see if ACT work to reduce dysfunctional attitudes and difficulties in emotion regulation.

Participants in the ACT group will

  • attend six weekly individual sessions of ACT intervention (1 hour per session) conducted online
  • complete the outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6)

Meanwhile, participants in the waitlist control group

  • will not receive any intervention during the data collection period
  • will be asked to complete same outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6)

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

32

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Malaysia
      • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
        • Universiti Sains Malaysia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Malaysian citizens
  • currently enrolled as a university student
  • be proficient in both Malay and English languages
  • aged between 18 and 32 years old
  • reported mild to moderate depression, anxiety, and/or stress levels according to the DASS-21

Exclusion Criteria:

  • reported severe depression, anxiety, and/or stress on the DASS-21
  • expected to graduate before study ends
  • had been diagnosed with any psychological disorder prior to the study
  • were currently receiving psychotherapeutic medication and/or psychological interventions.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ACT Intervention Group
Participants in the intervention group attended six weekly individual sessions of ACT intervention (1 hour per session) conducted online via the Webex platform.
Other: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Six sessions of ACT were conducted

Session 1:

Introduction. Theme: Broaden your horizon. Values and value-based actions. Identifying what matters the most in your life and acting accordingly.

Session 2: Theme: Present moment. Mindfully notice your internal and external experiences, notice the movement of your breath. Live in the present moment. To address difficulties in emotion regulation.

Session 3: Theme: Cognitive defusion. The power of thoughts. Identify your unwanted thoughts and emotions and learn to describe, name, and welcome them. To address dysfunctional attitudes.

Session 4: Theme: The observer's stance. Learn to view your thoughts and emotions from an observer's stance. To address difficulties in emotion regulation.

Session 5: Theme: Toward an attitude of acceptance. Let go of your struggle and learn acceptance towards your wakefulness and unwanted thoughts. To address dysfunctional attitudes.

Session 6: Theme: Summary of the programme. Plans committed action.
No Intervention: Waitlist Control Group
Participants in the control group were placed on a waitlist and completed the same outcome measures at three different time points (week 1, week 3, and week 6). After the completion of data collection, they were then divided into two groups and attended two group sessions of ACT (1.5 hours per session), each covering three of the six ACT main components.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 3, and Week 6
It is measured as the total score on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-18 Malay, where a higher score indicates a greater degree of difficulties in emotion regulation.
Baseline, Week 3, and Week 6
Dysfunctional Attitudes
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 3, and Week 6
It is measured as the total score on the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale-Malay, where a higher score indicates a greater degree of dysfunctional attitude.
Baseline, Week 3, and Week 6

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 10, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 20, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

April 25, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 19, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 19, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

December 1, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2026

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • USM/JEPeM/KK/24080672

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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